of this illicit trade snow in the andes this time. for the congolese the journey to work all the more means unimaginable hardship i prefer to lie down if you're standing like get the cock into chancing life and live on a dangerous journey through the jungle. i fell onto the rails and nearly died. our children go to school and live because of the train. risking it all the democratic republic of congo at this time on al-jazeera. was. violent scenes of polling stations and a bitter political standoff as police crackdown on the cattle and referendum declared illegal by the spanish government.

hello i'm adrian from again this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up the trial has begun in malaysia of two women accused of murdering the north korean leader's a strange half brother. one family's struggle to reunite shows the painful road to recovery faced by the people of puerto rico and. we're going to need seventy five million dollars just for food alone in the next five to six months after visiting rohinton refugees in bangladesh the head of the world food program outlines the scale of the help required. initial figures released by the cattle and regional government show a decisive vote in favor of secession after sunday's referendum but also indicate a low turnout meanwhile the divide between the regional government and barcelona and central government. in madrid appears to have deepened after polls closed the

president of the regional government charles push once said that catalonia had earned its right to independence at least eight hundred forty four people were injured as spanish police moved in to shut down some polling stations speaking from the capital madrid prime minister mariano rajoy said that spain had shown it has the resources to defend itself from an attack as serious as this illegal referendum and another sign of the crisis is far from over labor unions in catalonia have called for a general strike on tuesday the catalonian government unveiled the preliminary results stressing that despite the violence millions had voted and behaved peacefully a we our yellow them organize here today democracy won more importantly today people won and they won because they behaved and defended democracy peacefully in these exceptional circumstances two million two hundred sixty two thousand four hundred and twenty four people voted the latest now from al-jazeera

skull pen hole in barcelona. in a tally of the votes offered by catalan no authority as they say an overwhelming majority of those who voted voted in favor of catalonia breaking away from the rest of spain capital thora the say ninety percent of those who voted of voted for secession but the problem lies more in the level of voter turnout and from the figures that we have been given it seems that that actually did not reach much higher than around forty three percent that effectively means that well over hoffman registered voters in catalonia either did not turn out could not vote or boycotted the vote and that will certainly lead to even deeper divisions between the regional government in catalonia and the central government in madrid in the in

the coming days what i believe we will see is that the cattle lying government pushing an interpretation to suggest that perhaps this turnout was a success by given the level of effort by the central government to crack down on this referendum and use police reinforcements to try and shut down voter stations on the other hand it is likely that madrid and prime minister mariano rajoy will point to this relatively low voter turnout to suggest that the catalonian government simply does not have a strong mandate to declare independence from the rest of spain we've going to have to look at developments over the coming forty eight hours because it is on tuesday that the catalan government has said it will declare independence from the rest of spain a based on this voter turnout they say that they will view the results of this referendum as binding also the main labor unions have declared

a general strike from choose day in an effort to back the push for secession let's look back over the events of referendum day without zeroes john hendren. catalonia closed its polls in reopening a historic rift with spain. heard earlier catalans had lined up by the thousands devote many paying a high price for the. spanish national police in riot gear battered their way into one voting center after another was tossing peaceful voters downstairs striking them with the tongs and as promised confiscating ballot boxes. they did not discriminate by gender or age advancing on those peacefully protecting the polls sometimes retreating and sometimes clashing verbal ewood catalan is local more so police apparently over the use of force today the spanish government has demonstrated a shameless attitude showing that it's only through violence that they can get

their message across the spanish state has always oncet questions with violence and repression. the catalan people have won the right to an independent state which would take the form of a republic here at the polls on election organizers here is a special tactic they gave the entire voter registry to pulling place so that if we shut down one polling place voters simply went to another this ninety two year old voter remembers when the catalan language was outlawed until the one nine hundred seventy s. now she comes to vote only to be turned away by a system shutdown. i believe we will gain independence because we are sick of the current government that we have. this hundred two year old waited out several outages to cast her ballot. that is just outside the center of barcelona where residents proudly fly the spanish banner some catalans quietly oppose independence

easier said thank you i lived here for sixty years of course i love got along yeah it's where my children are where my family leafs but there is no reason why we have problems with a succession of just. if i am capital and yeah and i don't think like secessionist you know that i'm from the outside but then when i go to my family home and i'm also from the outside so where am i from and what identity do i have yet the secessionist seem largely to have boycotted the referendum which the spanish government again declared illegitimate under spanish along you get. there was no independence referendum in catalonia today i'm the prime minister i'm the leader of the government and we have done what we have to deal with in the middle with only active in the law. when the voting ended thousands of defiant catalans remained outside to guard the ballots a long way a step over. as pedal and celebrate they and the government of spain

continue a standoff that might have only just begun john hendren al jazeera barcelona. the trial of two women accused of murdering the north korean leader's strange half brother is underway in malaysia they're accused of poisoning kim jong nam with a nerve agent at kuala lumpur airport in february the woman from vietnam and into the face the death penalty if they're found guilty let's take you live now to kuala lumpur florence lewis outside the high court. what are we expecting then from the first day of this trial. for the two suspects from indonesia and from vietnam have already entered a plea of not guilty and that really doesn't come as a surprise to any of the defense lawyers have been saying that they would. take and really to do otherwise would have given them would have been a death sentence quite literally a murder conviction in malaysia carries a mandatory penalty death by hanging now we know the prosecution will be calling

its witnesses over the next several days or weeks. it will be for them to prove beyond reasonable doubt that these two women knew what they were doing and that what they had done amounted to murdering of kim jong nam now in the we spoke to one of the defense lawyers and he said that he expects the prosecution to call about ten expert witnesses we don't yet know in what areas these experts will be. experts. but it's very likely that there will be at least a chemical expert among them to can testify exactly what effect the nerve agent will have possibly how it could have been minister by these two women on kim jong un the prosecution's case is expected to take until the end of the month then the judge will decide whether or not there is a case for the for the court and then if they decide there is

a case to answer then the defense will be will have to prove that these women did not do what they are accused of given the publicity generated by this case right around the world. is there any sense that justice will be done here. well we have to remember that these are not the only to suspect in the murder case now and they are the only to suspect that malaysian police have in custody but there are another four north korean men and these are thought to be the mastermind or people who planned the attack and who helped them to carry out the attack but they are not in the custody now and they were charged with but they are believed to escaped and returned back to north korea now interpol has a red notice in that which is similar to an international arrest warrant but it's unlikely that we will ever have them testify in court that malaysian police will

ever have them in custody so it is questionable whether or not we even have the real culprits in court on trial today now and of course the for the prosecution to be able to prove that these women are guilty they will still have to prove that there was an intention to kill kim jong un. tourist many thanks indeed for us we live in. the u.s. president has to smith his secretary of state's efforts to negotiate with north korea as a waste of time donald trump's comments come a day after rex tillerson revealed that the u.s. was using direct channels of communication with pyongyang mike hanna reports from washington secretary of state rex tillerson has been holding high level talks in beijing dealing both with north korea as well as the wider relationship between the u.s. and china is seen as a crucial part of a warm up in relations between the two countries and china would have welcomed to listens apparent commitment to pursuing

a diplomatic track in dealing with north korea in an off the camera interview the secretary of state confirmed publicly that the u.s. was pursuing back channels in dialogue with the pyongyang administration. this was the president's reaction less than twenty four hours later i told ricks to listen now wonderful secretary of state that he's wasting his time trying to negotiate with little rocket man followed by save your energy rex we'll do what has to be done. president trump continued tweeting on north korea while he traveled a short distance from his golf club to another to watch the final day of the presidents cup tournament at parity unconcerned that he'd publicly contradicted his secretary of state but given that to listen appears to have given his commitment to chinese leaders to pursue avenues of dialogue on this occasion is particularly embarrassing to the country's top diplomat and his up and stated policy this is not

the first time the president has publicly contradicted his secretary of state but given that to listen appears to has given his commitment to chinese leaders to pursue you avenues of dialogue it's particularly embarrassing to the country's top diplomat and is often stated policy we're going to continue our our peaceful pressure campaign as i have described it working with allies working with china as well to see if we can bring the regime in point yank to the negotiating table with a view to begin a dialogue on a different future for korean peninsula and for north korea this policy now reversed without consultation in a few thumb strokes and no matter how wonderful the president may describe his secretary of state ricks to listen is cutting an increasingly lonely figure in what is clearly a divided administration mike hanna al-jazeera washington. eisel has claimed responsibility for a knife attack that killed two people in march say his main train station the

attacker a man believed to be in his thirty's was shot dead by special forces police opened a counterterrorism investigation after the station was evacuated france's interior minister described the event as an awful tragedy and praised the security forces police in canada say that a man arrested over an attack in edmonton is a somali national seeking refugee status five people were injured when the thirty year old rammed a car into a traffic control barricade before attacking a police officer with a knife officers are calling the incident an act of terror after seizing what appeared to be an eyesore flag from the vehicle we're going to weather update next here on al-jazeera then how economic sanctions are threatening the livelihoods of kurds who depend on cross border trade. and the colombian government and rebel groups negotiate their first ever cease fire agreement after five decades of fighting we'll be right back.

welcome to look at weather conditions across the americas now in north america we've got this developing frontal system giving some rain across parts of canada in particular eastern seaboard looking dry and fine showers down across the florida peninsula but we've got some snow across the rockies extending down through into the colorado plateau and as you head on through into choosing still snow very much still in evidence there calgary just five degrees as a maximum fine across much of the west coast east coast also looking very dry and fine but the central areas seen some quite heavy rain at times and heavy showers likely to be affecting the florida peninsula so let's head down into central parts of america we've still got some heavy showers affecting the on into the caribbean including puerto rico and up through the isthmus weather conditions are still

looking pretty wet many of the countries here away from panama northwards towards mexico seen some quite heavy and prolonged spells of rain and that is likely continue as we head on through into choose day so surf america well certainly plenty of showers around for northwestern areas across venezuela colombia and southwards in terms of basin this frontal system is looking fairly active i'm going to find that gradually pushing away towards the east during the course of chooses a brighter weather to follow and should be some sunshine developing innocent. a new year a new car and many new developments for this chinese villages fledgling democracy the village committee has retrieved people's land but approval is fleeting frustration grips the villages and as the saga began over a year before result is a. close call. for a six part was filmed out of five years. china's democracy experiment at this

time on al jazeera. hello again the top stories on al-jazeera this hour an actual figures show a decisive vote in favor of catalan yes it's a session from spain in sunday's referendum but also indicate a low turnout more than eight hundred people were injured across the region a spanish police moved in to shut down some polling stations. two women accused of killing the half brother of north korea's leader have pleaded not guilty to his murder the start of the trial in malaysia there accused of poisoning kim jong nam

with a nerve agent at kuala lumpur airport in february. and the u.s. president has contradicted his secretary of state's handling of the north korean crisis dismissing efforts to negotiate over its nuclear program as a waste of time donald trump's comments come a day after rex tillerson revealed that the u.s. was using direct channels of communication with pyongyang. more economic sanctions on iraq's kurdish region are expected in retaliation for last week's secession referendum iran has joined iraqi efforts to take control of its border crossing from the kurdish regional government now businesses near the turkish border fear that their crossings may also close and to simmons' spent time with turkish kurds whose lives depend on cross border trade beyond the border it's a landscape that's fertile with dreams of independence for iraqi kurds the reality is so different. is a turkish kurd he sees the dream but he has doubts. years

along every human being had the right to have a referendum but of all those around you and against the more then it's a long time. everyone here is dependent on board of trade many own all trucks for part time work transporting goods into iraq. it's tough living here most people have relatives over the border and don't want to leave threats of closing the crossing only make things harder for. people living in this area will be jobless is the border closures will have to find a labor and he stumbled or collect his allots in turkey. the only way in and out of the kurdish region of iraq by land is normally one of the busiest border crossings in the world since the warnings of its closure there's been a reduction in traffic the iraqi government insists it doesn't intend to starve out

the iraqi. people don't feel reassured this whole border area is consumed by uncertainty the only crossing point for turkey into iraq isn't only crucial for the iraqi kurds it's life on this side of the border for the local economy. runs a truck repair business he isn't a kurd but he says everyone he's working with wants peace and the return of business confidence. traders are uncertain will there be war in northern iraq they worry we need a decision fast and we need the language of peace from the authorities so that we can go back to the good old days of real trading. gets on with his work but he's just heard the owner of this truck wants the engine repairs stopped his customer doesn't want to be faced with the bill until he's sure the border remains open

andrew symonds al-jazeera on the turkey iraq. a truce between colombia's government and the country's last standing rebel group has begun the national liberation army or e l n agreed to the terms after negotiations that failed several times it's hoped that the agreement will stand while talks for a longer term deal continue in ecuador or some of m.p.'s he reports now from our. it's the first ever ceasefire declared by the national liberation army or then the last active rebel group in colombia and the first concrete step after seven months of peace starts to end its five.